No Pain, No Gain
by Foul Fountain of Flies
Summary: Kissing has always been a problem for Uchiha Itachi. ItachiXKisame and vice versa. Kisame’s POV.


No Pain, No Gain

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and its characters.

Summary: Kissing has always been a problem for Uchiha Itachi. ItachiXKisame and vice versa. Kisame's POV.

A/N: Just randomness. The idea hatched on me one midnight and, voila! Here it goes. Anyway, it's not very well-written. I'm not a big fan of the pairing so I didn't put much heart to it. Having said that, I don't think this pairing is gross. If Beauty and the Beast are acceptable as a couple, so are these two. 

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Recoiling, he looked at me as though the very sight of me hurt him. His eyes were glowing red with their little black dots rolling on their surface, moving in their spiral manner like they always did when his intent to kill reached tiptop. We had that in common, which is why it didn't arouse some fear in me. He turned his back to me, his full height almost covered in the blackness of his hair and the Akatsuki cloak that went down to his ankles. He had always wanted a part of him to be kept in private and there still was something in him I wasn't part of.

'What is it?' I heard myself say.

'Nothing.' came his contrite reply.

It was amazing how the disyllable could mean nothing and everything all at once. I couldn't wheedle out of him whether or not he was tired of the intimacy of close contact, of kissing. But on that day, with the night watching us, I knew that something was wrong, or something had been wrong all along and that it was in urgent need to be brought in the open. He inched farther away from where I stood. I could hear the desiccated leaves rustling beneath his footsteps. Otherwise, there was an impermeable silence that both of us unconsciously dreaded to be broken.

I walked towards him. He was standing stiffly on the edge of the cliff, brooding, it seemed, over something he didn't want me to discover. He didn't move a muscle when I touched his shoulder and it was difficult to tell if he noticed it or not. Used to be he'd lay a hand over mine, hold it as if it were something precious and kiss me until we got lost in each other's warmth and the world around us a mere decoration of our prized togetherness. He'd come to me ever so willingly, complaisantly, appreciating all of me although he knew that we didn't have organic unity to last us for long. Sasori had always said that there was no visual compatibility between Itachi and me. I knew he was right, but I also knew that he never got over the fact that Itachi chose me over him. When it comes right down to it, Itachi just went for the less monstrous admirer, i.e., me. As a result, Sasori never really let me on that.

'Kisame, I need to tell you something.'

The thread snapped. When I registered his words, his voice sounded oddly un-empathic. He faced me again and I saw those intense eyes as they bore inside me.

'Kisame, we can't go on like this.'

This time I was the one to turn my back on him. I held my stance firm then, as if doing so would make his words untrue. I knew it would wind up that way; one way or another he'd have to cut off the relationship, which was ridiculous to begin with. Whatever had kept it intact until this time.

'Yeah, I realized there was no way else to conclude this.' I echoed what was on my mind.

'There is. But we need to make a compromise.' He said as though referring to a business settlement. 'Kisame, what we're doing; it's hurting me.'

It took a few minutes to sink in to me. Hurting him. Exactly the words that came out of his mouth. Was he accusing me of deliberately hurting him? If he meant to offend me, he executed it quite well.

'What do you mean?' I said, putting on some restraints lest bloodlust took over me. I was too angry to demand more comprehensible explanation from him.

'Don't you see?' Itachi said. He lowered his cloak's collar, the query still fresh on his face. Smeared on the area around his lips were cuts of varying sizes. Some were too minuscule that if it weren't for the blood oozing from them, I wouldn't be able to see anything out of the usual. Others, however, were large enough to be detected by the naked eye. I could tell by the looks of them that Itachi wasn't overstating the pain he claimed he was having. It didn't require elaboration for me to know what he was getting at. It was up to me to own up to it.

But then I couldn't bring myself to say anything. More thwarted than my dismay was my speech; more hurt than Itachi himself was my pride. When I retained my quiet he spoke again. 'You have to do something about those teeth, Kisame. The next time we do something like this again, I wouldn't be surprised if you devour my whole jaw.' He paused and then, without waiting for my bidding, he rolled up his sleeves to show me further evidence. On his immaculately white arms, those arms I was so overjoyed of stroking, were grotesquely done, slanting paper cuts. They strangely followed some kind of pattern, which for some reason I was intimately familiar with.

Scales. Perilously sharp scales.

I couldn't help the sneer that crossed my face in the same way I couldn't help being born a shark. By then my eyes were popping wide with masochistic amusement. I could feel my mood shifting for the contemptuous. When Itachi admitted that he wanted me too, he was asking for this kind of brutality. He should've known what he was up to. I held myself erect while glancing at him. He was frowning, bereft of words and begging for reason to come my way.

'I can't do that.' I said, shaking my head, indulging my sadistic self as I did so. 'I use my scales and teeth as my weapon. No, there's no way I'm getting rid of them.'

I could see that he, too, was withholding his wrath underneath that steady contemplativeness. His curtailed respiration and the very serenity he exuded told much of his anger. It wasn't fair to him to some extent, I figured. But then, nothing is fair in the world. Even when he massacred his whole clan just to gauge how strong he was, he was exercising the very principle of mundane disparity. The odds were in his favor then; now, they ceased to be.

The silence took its toll on us as we both felt the awkwardness it had begun to set around us. I could see how tightly knit his brows were and how the power of the Sharingan had been strained behind those crimson orbs. There was still fire in them, but it wasn't as remarkably there as it had been before. He still had sense to stop himself even then. Wordlessly, he cast his face down because it was the only thing he could do to keep me from witnessing that miserably sullen look.

'Well, I guess it can't be helped.' He muttered later but however calmly he said this, I could tell the answer choked him. 'Maybe we should end everything here.' He finished and looked at me as though I were just a stinking sack full of fish that was no threat to him. .

'Perhaps.' I sighed laboriously. 'Because I can't do anything about it. But who knows, maybe you can do something.'

I meant to say that if only he'd stop repining, everything would be as they were. If he would can all his personal complaints against my unrefined, somewhat abnormal features, probably we'd have a wonderful time together as we always had. What did little prickling pains matter? He's Uchiha Itachi for crying out loud; no way he couldn't brook tiny stupid cuts.

'Oh. So you're saying I should be the only one to make a sacrifice?' He was poised alertly, and when he said this there was sarcasm in his tone.

'I'm saying that you have a choice. We can stop now or we can go on like it.' I thought I should give him a piece of my mind.

When I met Itachi, he was nothing like the Ice King I'd been warned about. But he proved to be the stronger warrior. Save for that fact, he could be anyone. And it was precisely that which drew me to him, which fascinated me no end. I knew that every kiss I planted would hurt. I was aware of the iron-tasting blood that touched my tongue each time we made out, and I had always loved that flavor, that taste. It was one of the things that irresistibly magnetized me to him. I knew it all along. And because he was stronger and he could afford to incur minor injuries like the cuts he got from my teeth and scales, it was only natural that he was the one who should make sacrifices. I couldn't give up my arsenals for battles on his account. Those were my prime assets, mind you.

'Made up your mind, Itachi?' I asked him. He suddenly looked dithered. I had no plans whatsoever to drive him mad, but I needed clarification of the kind.

The silence ate him away. He stayed shackled on the spot, looking behind me, at the thicket of uncertainties that lay beyond. I could weigh how misty the place had become with how much time had elapsed. Confronted with the dilemma, Itachi lifted his head, rendering us vis-à-vis. When he opened his mouth, I was surprised by what came out.

'I don't think I really have a choice.' He gave it a start. 'We were partnered for this. So even if I say that we should end it here, things will just continue to happen. Unless we become assigned to different partners.'

There was no need to demand elaboration. I knew what he meant clearly by 'things that just happen'. Things happen to two people who are alone together. Things happen when the proximity is reduced to pure contact, when sexual or romantic tension arises. Things happen, regardless of the sex, appearance and age of the parties concerned. Always. Just like when I pulled him to me the first time and he gave in. Just like the second session, and the third, and the one after that. I already lost count. Those kisses, those sudden outbursts of emotions just happen. So even if he said that he wouldn't come to me anymore, because of the pain or otherwise, he'd find himself succumbing to such urges sooner than he could check himself. Because things happen whether they warrant honest affection or not.

I stared at him then, the only beautiful thing in the dark, standing rooted within arm's reach. He nodded and strode even closer to me. Before it was over, he came surrendering himself to me once again.

It was his way of saying that he wouldn't have had things another way. Even I wouldn't have them differently.

END

Uh well…just a side note; I don't think this is a romantic/love story. The relationship of the two is somewhat sensual in nature. I can't really say they've fallen for each other. They're just two people with raging hormones, yeah. Do I hear some 'Yuck!' there? Hahahaha. Thanks for reading. 


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